


In A View Askew

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drug Use, F/M, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:59:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1299139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where Dinah Lance is non-powered, the illegitimate child of a cop and a prostitute, she still finds Roy Harper and saves him. And then, Slade takes them both on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In A View Askew

**Author's Note:**

> Published in serial format on my Livejournal over a couple of years. This is set against Roy's heroin story line, while Deathstroke is very pre-NTT's debut.

"She's not available," the man said one final time, and made his way back toward the others. Slade watched, a long moment, before he went elsewhere, to think about that. His last five trips to the city had found his accommodation with this man satisfactory. The petite brunette girl was just to Slade's tastes between brains and appetites, and the mercenary was disgruntled to have his routine broken.

It did not pay to make the tall man agitated or wonder about things that affected his life.

It was fairly easy for him to find the tenement the pimp kept his homeless girls in, and even easier to break the men keeping an eye on them. The one he was seeking was not drugged; she lived the life because it was a matter of survival, so he bypassed the room with the paraphernalia in it. He came to another room, this one locked from the outside. It was nothing for him to break the locks and get inside, where his blood turned ice cold.

He knew the hooker he had been frequenting was young. She had been able to hide it better than most, but he was an old hand at reading people. Seeing her like this, her face all but unrecognizable, and mostly non-responsive nearly enraged him past reasoning.

When he knelt to pick her up, and she flinched violently despite being nearly unconscious, he vowed there would be one less pimp come morning. This woman had been his, on a cash and carry basis in the past. Finding her like this had insured she would be his, one more piece of a network that stretched worldwide.

First, he had to make sure she lived. Then she would be set free of all but the ties binding her to him…and those, he thought, would lie as loosely as possible on her young shoulders.

* * *

The redheaded teen was shaking, and she knew it wasn't just the cold. She had seen him working around this block, the one where so many of the addicts threw themselves at the hapless johns. She only ever came over here to try and tell them which shelters were open; their plight made her heart hurt too much.

But the boy…he arrested her attention, made her think she had seen him before. And he was one of the youngest out here, no more than sixteen. Even as she watched, he threw himself to the edge of the curb to snatch up a john in a family sedan, disappearing into the car and rolling away. The watching woman shivered in sympathy for his desperation, then hurried over to talk to Cora, to let her know what shelters were open. Then she had to get back over to the theater district; it was early, and she wanted to be sure she was in the right place to meet her own john of the evening. Working for an agency had definitely made life easier for Dinah Lance.

`~`~`~`~`

She saw him again, a week later, obviously at the lowest point a junkie could hit. His face preyed on her mind again, making her walk over and crouch down near him. His eyes slowly focused on her, and he made to untuck, to offer himself to her.

"No kid. You're barking up the wrong tree." She let the pity she felt color her voice. "I do have a warm place to stay, and they're calling for frost." It was unusually cold this winter in Star City, but still nothing like Gotham, where she had grown up. The cold did not affect her in her thigh high boots, her micro skirt, and the skintight top with its matching bolero jacket.

"Gotta score…" he said hoarsely through shaking teeth.

"No, Boy-o…you need warmth, some food, and someone to keep you safe from the dealers," she told him. "Up." Now her voice brooked no argument, and he found himself moving. It hurt, all over his body, and he burned for the drugs, she could see. It was written in his hollow eyes, in the way he could barely move, and she wound up spending hard earned cash on a cab to get them to her tiny place ten blocks away.

"Need…a…fix…" Roy insisted, once the warmth of her apartment penetrated the pain. He got a wild look in his eyes, just before he lunged for the door. She moved, tripping him, and then sitting on his waist, hands grasping his wrists.

"Look kid, you're too far gone to know right now, but it does not have to be the way you've made it!" Dinah wasn't quite sure why she was fighting for this boy…other than she had been sixteen once, with a pimp who used and abused her nearly into the hospital. Someone had saved her, gotten her free and into the agency; it was only fair she pass that luck on.

"Please…." His piteous whimper almost made her let go, almost made her turn him loose as lost to humanity. But he had triggered her stubbornness, and she shook her head. 

"God, I hope Cheryl can get me some methadone," she whispered as the boy slipped into a catatonia. If she was going to save him, the way her benefactor had saved her, it was going to be a long haul.

* * *

Ollie weakly threw a punch, and Hal blocked it, before disgustedly shoving Ollie on his backside. "Knock this shit off, Ollie!"

"I fucking … I might as well have killed him! Hell, he might be dead!"

"We're still looking!" Hal wanted to beat the drunken self-pity out of his friend. 

"It's been six god damn months, Hal!"

"And that's a reason to quit, to crawl into the bottle and stay there?" Hal's tone was sharp, cold, and dangerous. It also had its effect, making Ollie clench a fist, close his eyes, and sigh hard.

"Gimme a hand?" Ollie was asking for far more than just getting up off the floor.

"Of course, Ollie…I'm not going to lose you too."

* * *

Dinah sighed softly; the methadone had run out two days ago, and Roy was hard in the withdrawal shakes now. She slipped down on the floor with him, listening as he stuttered out words in some language that was musical and completely alien to her. He used it when things got bad, she had learned, spoke it in his sleep as he curled nightly in her arms, clinging to her for security. Somewhere in the second week, he had seen her interest as a lifeline, had thrown himself into her arms and promised to never let go of the hope she gave him.

She only hoped it was enough, now that the cravings were back, the physical effects. Without the methadone, without an easy, cheap way to get it, this was going to have to happen the hard way now. She sat with him, eventually pulling him into her lap, and just rocked him, telling him it was going to be okay, if he could just hold on and stay with her, it would go away.

Cheryl would just have to be without her number one call girl for a few nights, even if it meant eating was lean in the house because of it.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah woke to the soft sound of sobs, surprising her. She reached out, as Roy was not close like normal, and touched his shoulder. She hissed softly as she moved; her favorite benefactor had been in town the last three nights, and while he was good to her, he also knew just how to push her nearly to her breaking point in what they enjoyed.

"Hey, Boy-o, come back here," she murmured.

"Why? Why'd ya pull me up?" He spoke low, the accent of that other language laying heavy on the words. "I'm just a kid, a stupid kid no one wants!" He pulled away from the touch, slipping off the side of the bed to the floor, so he could lean back against it and be out of her reach.

Dinah, however, had other thoughts on that matter. She carefully followed him off the bed, sitting beside him and laying her hand over his.

"I saw something there, Roy…something I could not walk away from." She idly traced the lines of his fingers, the strong, corded tendons in his hand. "Maybe it was the fact I was sixteen once and nearly dead on the streets. Or that someone else gave a damn about me when I could not bring myself to care. I saw that, reflected in you, and it all played a part in my choice," she explained. "But in the end, it was just the fact that I was pulled, that I can see in you something far more than a junkie set to burn out within a year, or wind up raped and dead from the wrong kind of john."

He turned green-gold eyes her way, tears making them damp still, and she used that small move to shift, drawing him to her again. This time he let her, lacing their fingers together.

"No one ever wanted me. They all leave, or send me away." His tears slowly seeped through her over sized tee shirt, but she did not care. It made her rock him gently, one hand stroking his hair.

"Ahh, my Roy…poor thing, I know how that can be. Mama resented me; daddy wouldn't acknowledge me. That's what happens when your mom is a hooker and your dad's a cop. I came west looking for a way out…and wound up just like her, selling tricks when I was a little younger than you."

Roy looked up into her face; he had listened the few times she brought one back here, having made himself scarce in the hallways at her warning. "I hated it every time they touched me, every time I…" He flushed. "But you…"

"Yeah, it's not for everyone, but it's the only skill I've got." She bumped her forehead to his, gently. "As for not wanting you…" She patted his cheek. "I'd be very upset if you left me. I've gotten very used to having you here." Getting Roy over the worst of withdrawal had taken three months, and it bothered Dinah if he strayed far, when she was not working. She would never admit, especially where her boss or her benefactor could hear, that Roy had filled a void in her life.

Roy burrowed into her arms, his forehead against her neck as he did. "If you don't leave me, I won't leave you," he promised her. She tightened her arms around him, holding on for all she was worth.

"We'll take care of each other now, Boy-o." With that promise, she coaxed him back to bed, laying half on him, her leg over his, to make sure he knew she was there for him.

* * *

Green Arrow shook violently as he tossed the sleaze away from him. After so long, he had a lead…and it turned out that his mistake had cost Roy more than just being homeless. He looked almost helplessly at Green Lantern, who shook his head.

"I've got a few contacts," Arrow finally said. "At least he's not…not working the streets, from what the guy said."

"The guy wasn't sure Roy was even working now, just that he'd been seen with one of the call girls a lot." Green Lantern scratched the back of his head. "I might know a few…ladies."

"I think I have one or two who owe me," Arrow admitted.

"Let's get started."

* * *

Dinah gasped sharply as he pressed tight, the position they were in making her entire body tingle. She moved just slightly, felt him slam home one more time, and they both came hard enough that she nearly passed out. He eased her down on the bed, and then laid behind her, kissing a bruise he had accidentally placed on her shoulder.

"That kid you took in. The boy," he began. "Know much about him?"

"Hmm," Dinah rolled to face him, her finger running over one scar. She knew he was ex-military, but sometimes she could have sworn the scars had not been there before, no matter how faded they appeared. "Abandoned. Adoptive father kicked him out for being a user. Comes from a broken background before that."

"That's not much, little love," he purred, cupping her breast and kneading it. No matter what they did together, she always seemed to keep up with his appetites, never asked questions, and was intensely loyal to him. It was more than enough to make sure he stopped by whenever he had business on the west coast.

"I swear, sometimes I think I've seen him before, but I don't know where from," she added. He merely nodded, watching her eyes go half lidded. He was pretty sure this time would be enough to push her to exhaustion. He would use what she had said, and determine if it was going to be too risky to keep her as a mistress much longer, if his suspicions were correct. Not to mention it might be an ace in the hole, with his current project concerning that band of child heroes.

* * *

He knew he wasn't supposed to interfere, so when the sounds got rough, he clenched his fists in his pockets, and paced farther down the hall. Then she cried out, and there was both pain and fear in her voice. He could not help but react, bulling into the small apartment, grabbing the john whose hands had gone around her throat, and ripping him off of her. The man was sailing into the hall before Dinah had even gotten her breath back, futilely trying to cover herself. When the john tried to come back, fists cocked, Roy moved without thought, falling into his fighting stance and lashing out with the solid flow of skill. It only took three hits and one kick for the john to go away, and leave Roy with Dinah.

Dinah drew herself back on the bed, to the headboard, and pulled the coverlet over her, not protesting when Roy settled beside her and adjusted it. He sighed softly, pulling her into a loose embrace as she started to cry silently.

"Why do you do it?" he asked. "Why do you let those…beasts in here?"

"Only way I can make a living," she whispered, hiding her face in his chest. "The money from Slade only goes so far, honey…and Cheryl usually protects me from that. I'll call her, let her know he's got to be banned."

"I could get a job," Roy growled. "Then you'd never have…I need to pull my weight."

She looked up into his face, feeling his fingertips gently explore the already vivid bruises. "I know where I've seen you now…when you were fighting him, it came to me…"

Roy stiffened, his entire body tense, as he realized just how many times Speedy had been caught on film, finishing off some stopped heist.

"…and I just want you to know, no matter why you left that, how you fell to where I found you, you just became my number one hero, Boy-o." She pushed up, kissing him tenderly on the cheek. "I won't leave the business, Roy. I have to make my own way, and that's that. But I can help you find work, something more legit." She snuggled into his arms. "You never belonged on a street, my love. Your body is dedicated to better things."

* * *

Hal made his way into the offices of one of the more affluent madams in town. She was nominally a dating service coordinator, but Hal had known her when she was still a girl working the illegal fight circuits down near Coast City, parting winners from their money with a seductive smile.

"Hi, Cheryl," he said with a smile and a wink at her receptionist. "Got a minute for an old flyboy?"

"Hal Jordan!" She came from behind her desk and walked over, giving him a quick peck. "Heard you went private…Ferris, right?"

"Got it in one." He looked back over his shoulder as Oliver finally came in, having been distracted by one of the women below who recognized him. "My friend here is hunting someone. It's a family thing, Cher…care to help us out?"

Cheryl got a hard look to her eye. "Jordan, you know my policy…"

"Ma'am…it's my son." Ollie moved forward, the picture of a concerned, defeated man hunting his blood. "I can't ask you to do more than tell me if you've seen him…or heard about a boy that looks like him." Ollie pulled out a photo of a clean cut redhead, about sixteen or so, wearing casual prep clothes of the upper class. "I just want to know he's still alive, hopefully doing okay…I screwed up so bad with him, but to not know at all…"

The blond's pain was palpable, even to the jaded woman who had heard a million sob stories. She took the picture, concentrating hard on it. "He was over on junkie row," she began.

"We know…they told us one of the upscale girls took a shine to him." Hal was hopeful; Ollie was too close to falling apart again.

"Yeah, my star." Cheryl handed it back. "Her time's money, Jordan. But if you're paying, I'll let you go from there." Her gaze got hard. "I'll warn you once, though, flyboy. She's got a very intense patron, comes through every few weeks, and doesn't like bad things to happen to his girl."

"Get me a spot with her, Cheryl, and I'll meet her fee. Dinner only, so I can talk to her, see if I can't win her trust," Hal promised.

* * *

Dinah adjusted the scarf hiding the bruises at her throat, then made sure her skirt was straight before she entered the pricey establishment where her latest 'escort' had said to meet him. The raven-haired beauty was shown to a table in one of the more private areas, where a man with an easy smile and a strong charisma waited.

Hal watched the small woman walk his way, wearing an elegant blue blouse and skirt combo, a contrasting scarf of a pale orange at her throat. She came maybe to his shoulder, in her heels, and had all the poise of a lady you might find behind the counter of a flower shop. If he had just been meeting her, there was no way he would have made her out as a call girl.

"Hello, Miss Lance." He had risen, pulled her chair out, and then situated her chair before returning to his own. 

"Mister Jordan." She smiled pleasantly.

"I…ma'am, I'm really not very good at this whole hemming and hawing on subjects, so let me be blunt and forward."

"I find that often works best," she said, her blue eyes watching his face impassively.

"I asked to meet you to check up on a boy seen in your company." He quickly held up a hand as she went into complete neutral mode. "I'm not asking to go to him. Not even asking you to tell him we met you. I say we, because I'm here on his guardian's behalf."

"Speak quick, or I'm out that door, mister," she said softly, maintaining a friendly posture, for other people to see.

"His guardian is worried. And wants to make things right. But most of all, we want to know the boy is okay." He held out a card. "If he or you need anything…call those numbers. Is that enough of a sign of trust?"

Dinah's eyes inspected the numbers, the two names on the card. She knew of Oliver Queen; few girls in her business did not, as he was one of the richest men in the city. She then looked hard at Hal.

"The boy is fine. But he does not need a son of a bitch who throws his own responsibility out the door instead of helping him." She stood up. "Good evening, Jordan." She walked away, her form bridled with the anger she felt completely on Roy's behalf.

"Damn, Ollie, you are so not going to get past that she-wolf," Hal said softly to himself, knowing the ring would pick the woman up anywhere she went now.

`~`~`~`~`

"That's her?" Ollie asked skeptically, looking at the tiny brunette below them.

"Believe me, her bark is bigger than she is," Hal said. "And…there he is." The Lantern watched as the redhead stepped out of the building, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulders.

"Got a little height on him," Ollie said softly, and Hal moved closer, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Looks like he's strong. The ring did not find any traces of drugs in the apartment they share." Hal's voice was gentle, full of understanding.

"I want…"

"You can't." Hal stroked his back. "She knows you are worried; Oliver Queen, that is. Green Arrow can't swoop down there and confront him. For all we know, his recovery could be jeopardized by that." They fell back into silence, tracking the pair over rooftops as the couple made their way to a cheap movie theater. Roy pulled his wallet out to pay for tickets, as the woman nuzzled into his side.

"God only knows how he's getting money now," Ollie said with a slight tremor. He had nightmares over what they had learned Roy had done to earn money for the drugs.

"He's working down at the harbor. I found that out two days after I found where he was living," Hal reassured him. "She got him a job through a man who…looked favorably on her."

Ollie wrinkled his nose. "Still can't believe my boy is shacking up with…"

"Don't judge her that way," Hal defended, surprising himself. "You didn't see how fierce she got for him."

"True." Ollie watched the pair go inside. "Not much point in staking this place out." He stood to stretch his legs. "Let's go find us some trouble, Green Bean. I feel like busting heads."

"Good plan."

* * *

Dinah and Roy were laughing as they made their way back inside the apartment. The night had been simply magical for the woman, as she enjoyed an honest to goodness 'date' with her roommate, to celebrate his first paycheck. 

As soon as she got fully inside, though, she gasped softly as she saw Slade collapsed on the couch, his shirt off and several bandages marring his stomach. 

"Oh god!" She went and sat on the couch, half-glad when he instinctively grabbed for her, but startled into a single 'eek' at the sudden move.

"Shit, he's been…" Roy was at a loss for words, spotting the shirt that had been torn off to let the man bandage his wounds.

"Shot," the man managed to say, opening his single eye to look at the boy, then his mistress. "I'll be fine."

"Slade…you've got six bandages, and some of them are already spotting blood," Dinah whispered.

"Think you can fix me up, little love? I've seen your stitches," the big man said softly. He wished he had not had to come here, but the wounds had taxed even his ability.

"Roy, help me move him to the bed…lay some towels out first."

The redhead nodded, wondering just what the man did that had gotten him so hurt, and what he was that he had walked after the shooting. He did everything Dinah asked of him, and assisted with closing up the wounds, noting that Slade had already removed the slugs.

"You were lucky at the caliber," Roy commented, seeing the man was fighting to stay conscious. At his words, Slade actually chuckled.

"Yeah, light wounds, tearing muscle, not penetrating too deep." He looked up into the grim face of his mistress. "Sorry to bring business with me, little love."

"Shh. No more talking," she fussed. She had always known, back in the recesses of her mind he had to be into something shady, something more than the stock trading he admitted to for his money. Finding out he was involved in a violent life…bothered her. 

"Of course." His eye closed, trusting her, and lending trust to the kid for now. When Dinah finished, her patron was mostly asleep, and she just moved from the bed shaking. Roy followed, settling with her on the couch as she started to sob uncontrollably in his arms.

"Dammit, Roy…he could have…should have died from all that blood," she whispered. 

"Shh, Di, shh. He's fine…gotta be something a bit more than human, but he's not even running a fever." Roy stroked her hair. "So he's the one, huh? The one that makes you so happy when he passes through?"

"Yeah," Dinah answered, focusing on the question, on Roy's gentle touch. "He…I should have known he was dangerous from the beginning. He … well, my first pimp was never found. And a week later, he introduced me to Cheryl." She remembered the way he had treated her from that first random encounter, when she had been walking the streets still, a touch younger than Roy was now. "He's so good to me."

"No accounting for people, Dinah. He seems alright from the way you talk, but…people don't shoot nice guys six times for no reason." Roy was worried that whatever this man was into might spill over and hurt his Dinah…and that thought stopped him cold in his tracks. Not just from the worry he felt for her, but the sheer weight of knowing she had filled the emptiness inside him. 

"I know, Boy-o." She pressed into his arms, looking back over at the bed, seeing Slade was still sleeping. "I know."

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah roused from her sleep with sudden, abrupt awareness. Roy still slept, restlessly as it might be, in her arms. She listened, hearing the soft sounds of Roy's breathing, then Slade's heavier sounds from the bed. She tried to force her eyes to close and stay that way, but something felt wrong.

"Slade." She pitched her voice low and quiet, stilling Roy's instinctive shift to awareness with a light hand over his hair.

The sounds of sleep continued, but her ears caught the barest shift of the man on her bed, as he reached out his own senses.

"You and the boy, to the floor," Slade whispered across the small apartment, vaguely pleased when Roy shifted almost silently, taking Dinah with him and covering her with his own body.

Afterward, Dinah would only remember flashes of muzzle fire, the explosive sounds of small caliber weapons in a small space, and the fact that Roy never once stopped shielding her in the lee of the couch. Slade had launched into the fray the instant the door had shattered inward, using his own skill to acquire a weapon and defend what was his. He did not think about his injuries, only the fact that in coming here, he had endangered a woman and a youth who had never asked to touch this life.

When the noise stopped, Roy looked down at the woman he was holding, seeing the fear that was only to be expected…and a quiet strength behind it. The fear, he realized, was not for herself, but rather for the man she cared strongly for, and himself. He kept them low as Slade did a thorough check of the apartment, disarming the ones he had not killed.

"Kid…take her out of here," Slade said roughly. "Get her somewhere safe. Somewhere these creeps won't be able to get to her, if they did their homework." Roy rose slowly, meeting the man's eyes. "I think you know what I mean. Hate to ask it of you, but…I think you care enough to put your demons aside for her."

Roy swallowed hard, keeping Dinah's face turned into his chest, after she had glimpsed one body and stifled a small cry. "Understood, sir." The former teen sidekick recognized something in Slade's bearing, in the number of people who had come to finish him off. Whatever Slade did for a living made him a man others wanted dead with a vengeance, and those kind of people would think nothing of killing off a half grown boy and a high price call girl.

"Good, Kid." Slade watched Roy swallow against the carnage, and gently guide Dinah out to the street, taking Slade's hastily offered money for cab fare.

* * *

It was Ollie who answered the door, just in from a night of patrol. He never expected the door to swing wide and show him his missing ward, with the tiny woman who had been caring for him.

"Ollie…" Facing the man, Roy was not quite sure what to say, but Ollie made it easy for a change. He gently reached out and caught Roy's elbow, assisting him inside as Roy kept the woman tucked tightly to his side.

"Roy, you look pale," he managed to say, guiding them to the living room.

"Yeah, Ollie…just…"

"Is he going to be okay?" Dinah whispered against Roy's neck.

"Shh, Di…" Roy looked at Ollie, steeling himself. "Look, she just saw her place get shot up, lots of dead bodies, and her…her lover was in the middle of it. We need a place to crash, a place we'll be safe, if they link her to him and come looking for revenge."

Ollie bit back his immediate demand of what the hell had they gotten into, and nodded. "Stay here, and I'll see what I can learn for you both."

"Thanks, ol' man." Roy curled up with Dinah on the couch, holding her and petting her hair. After Ollie saw that, he went to suit up, to see what he could learn for them from the scene or the cops.

`~`~`~`~`

"…cops didn't have a suspect or anyone in custody," Ollie told Roy softly, having gotten him away from the sleeping call girl after coming in. Dinah was very uneasy to come awake to no one with her, in a room that could easily have held her entire apartment.

"So he got away then." Roy let relief color his voice. "Wonder who he is, if we've crossed paths with him before."

"Description did not match up for me, once I got one of her neighbors to talk about him." Ollie shook his head. "But if he's the costumed sort…"

"If he is, you would never know who he was, Mister Queen," Dinah said softly as she joined them, having moved silently into the room with them. "In the six years I have known him, I never knew for certain what kind of business he might be in. I still don't, other than it is a dangerous one."

"Care to tell us more about him, so we can try and help him out?" Ollie asked, chagrined that she had snuck past his awareness, and keenly aware of just how pretty a thing she was.

Roy drew Dinah into his lap on the bar stool, and stroked her face, starting to reassure her. She covered his lips with her finger, and shook her head at Ollie.

"He's good to me. That's all that matters in my world. I won't betray that." She tipped her chin up at the richest man in Star City, defying him to make her say anything.

"You're right," Ollie said. "You and Roy owe him that for getting you two out of that blood bath alive." He dropped the issue. "I guess it is a matter of wait and see. In case they go looking for you because of him."

"We're staying here, for now, Dinah," Roy told her. "We'll be safe." His body was taut with the stress of that decision, and it made her meld closely to him, lips going to his ear.

"I'll keep you safe too, Boy-o," she promised softly, and he tightened his arms around the angel of his life.

* * *

They were with Ollie a week, before it all blew up. Dinah had been on edge, as the week went by and there was no word, no attempt to find her by the man she cared for. She could not go back to work, could not leave the house, for fear that his enemies might have tracked them somehow, but she had kept her faith he would come for her.

Ollie had just drawn Roy to the side, worried about the evident bond between the pair. He saw it as protecting his son, the boy he had stupidly lost and thrown to the wolves. He was concerned that between Dinah's profession and the man she had been involved with that Roy was walking a path that could only end in tragedy.

"What the fuck do you think I did to score the junk after you threw me out?!"

Roy's voice, raised in anger, brought Dinah from the room she had been laying down in, to see the young man facing off against the older one. Ollie blustered, started to reply, but the woman at the root of the problem crossed the floor and wrapped her arms around Roy's waist, trying to calm him.

"Boy-o, please…don't get angry."

"I won't listen to him slam you…"

"Roy…think how you would feel if someone you loved was running around with a whore." She looked up into his eyes, her face softly lit with concern.

Ollie could not help but feel ashamed at the way he had voiced his concerns, seeing that gentle love she radiated for his boy.

"Don't call yourself that," Roy said gruffly, one hand curling up into her hair and pulling her tight to his chest.

"Look, Roy…"

"You…shut up." Roy looked at Ollie, but his voice was calmer. "I did things to survive, she did them too. What we do with our lives, is entirely up to us, not you. You lost that right with me the minute you turned your back on me. And right now, we owe our lives to that man you see as a bad influence. He might have brought the trouble, but he owned up and got us out of it. Now you can either suck this up, and we stay here until the coast is clear, or she and I go back out there, and vanish somewhere you won't ever see me again."

Ollie's pride called for him to meet that quiet anger…but the thought of never seeing this boy, the boy who had made his life so rich with his skill and his wits froze something deep inside of him. He bowed his head, and sighed deeply.

When he looked up, it was first to Dinah that he spoke. "My apologies, Miss. I do worry about my boy here." He then looked at Roy. "And I was wrong, so very wrong, both to leave you and then to abandon you to that fate."

Roy blinked. He had not been expecting that. Nothing in his history had ever suggested Ollie could truly admit being wrong and mean it. Let alone apologize for it.

"Alright, old man. Then we'll stay. But…can you get GL looking into where her man got off to? We're going to need to know how long we need to stay under wraps anyway."

"We're going to need a name," Ollie said in resignation.

"Slade Wilson," she whispered. 

"We'll get on it, tonight." He left them alone, and Roy shifted Dinah around, so he could fully comfort her. She buried her face into his chest, and just held onto him.

* * *

The green glow was the first indication they had found him; his instinct to fight subdued by the fact he did want to know that his woman had made it to safety.

"Wilson?" It was Arrow who spoke, as the Lantern remained behind his friend.

"Green Arrow." The costumed hero frowned at the utter coolness, wondering just how the pretty little bird had gotten her heart wrapped up in a man they had found was a contract killer.

"You have a woman looking for you, under my care." Ollie was very tempted to just tell the man to get his mistress, to take her far away, so he could get Roy back in the straight and narrow life.

"She does not belong to me," Slade told him in a flat voice. "She needs to move on, away from me."

Ollie snorted, personally agreeing on one level. "Don't think she'd listen to that. Get the impression she's a stubborn thing."

Slade gave him a severe look, at the almost familiar tone the hero had used. He then sharply controlled his urge to do something about it and shrugged. "Then tell her a story to believe in, Hero. Tell her you found me…dead. I intend to leave town soon anyway."

"After you kill Boss Vedder?" Hal asked in a cold tone. "If so, we'll be taking you to jail, not lying for you."

Now Slade snorted. "You would try. Not that he's my business tonight."

"I'd really rather you got her out of my home," Ollie finally blurted. "She's a nice girl, I'm sure, but I do have a boy I need to fix up mistakes with."

That made Slade glare, angry on the behalf of his lover…and it brought him up short. If he severed ties with her, if he protected her by walking out of her life, he would never again know the gentle comfort she wove against his own demons, the same comfort she gave the boy that this arrogant fool with a bow wanted to drive off.

"Have her meet me at Angie's Diner," Slade said. "For breakfast." He was willing to bet the boy would not let her out alone, and he would fix this mess he had started, get her to safety, while also working on that Titans angle he needed to look at.

"I'll do that."

* * *

Slade was sitting in his accustomed booth when the redhead guided Dinah protectively in. He nodded approvingly at the boy having a case with him, one just the right size for a bow. It made it that much easier for him to say what he had decided to offer.

"Slade." The one word, in her soft voice, said with just enough emotion to make it real, but well in the decorum he appreciated.

"Dinah." He indicated she should sit opposite him, with Roy at her side. "Roy."

"Hey." The redhead was keyed up, feeling that things were on the edge of an important cusp, a sneaking suspicion that he was close to losing the woman he had fully fallen for over the last several months.

"I have to leave soon, Dinah." Slade watched the woman, saw her face change just a little, and realized, that in all the time he had kept her as a mistress in this city, that she had always put this face on, the one that said 'it's okay, I understand', and yet he knew right then it was a mask.

"Will you be coming back this time?" She was smart enough to know that with his real life spilling over into their life that he might not.

Roy shifted closer to Dinah, betraying his nervousness on her behalf.

"I'd rather not." He watched with interest when Roy's eyes snapped to his face, a protective anger in those green orbs. "I have an offer for you, because of this."

"She doesn't need anything…" Roy began, intending to promise to take care of the woman, but she squeezed his hand on her shoulder, looking up at Slade.

"You've been good to me, Slade. I think I can make it on my own, if Cheryl will keep me on," she said with a lift of her chin.

Slade chuckled. "She'll be angry with losing you, I'm sure," he told her in confident amusement. "And you will listen to me, Dinah. As well as you, Roy Harper." He waited until both were looking at him with curiosity. "I want you both to come with me. You, Dinah, deserve to live well, not making a living as you have been. And, Kid, unless I read things wrong, your pal Arrow isn't going to let you have peace with her in your life. I'm offering you a chance to make a clean start, some solid training…and access to those friends of yours in New York."

That last got Roy's attention so sharply he accidentally squeezed Dinah too hard. She was already fluttering with the surprise at his offer, but she looked at the younger man to see just how tempted he was by the offer…and saw a mix of hope and fear on his face.

"I don't…"

"Roy…" Dinah reached up, petting his cheek. "What do we stand to lose?"

He looked down into her face, and realized he had one thing, turning back to Slade with that concern in his eyes.

"Kid…I don't own her; that's between you two," Slade said softly. "I'm confident enough to know if she comes, that she's still mine in that way, and I have a desire to have a…student to pass my knowledge on to."

Dinah snorted, before she smiled. "Sensible of you, Slade." She nuzzled into Roy's throat. "Boy-o, I already promised not to leave you…so this one is yours. I want to go…but I'm smart enough to see I'm putting a hell of a weight on him to be in his life more, and I know what you and I could be okay on our own."

Roy looked into those blue eyes; he had seen just how much she cared for the man opposite him, and saw her willingness to give it up for him and security at his side. He knew then and there, that he could only give one answer.

"We're yours, Slade."

The professional killer gave a smile at that, and nodded.

* * *

"I won't be a burden on you," Roy started. Both Slade and Dinah just looked at him. "I can find a job..."

"And you will, boy," Slade told him. "But you'll finish your school first. And I'll expect you to keep up with that bow of yours," he added.

Roy looked sharply at him. "You know who I was."

"Was? Or are? Never had much reason to cross your types' path before." Slade watched him closely. "Speedy or Roy Harper, you stay in my house, you learn, you do what you're best at." He glanced sideways at Dinah, seeing if she was listening, and was pleased that his little lover was just as attentive as the boy. "I let you in, kid...both of you. That means I take responsibility for you, and I mean to set you on your feet right."

"Yes sir, Slade," Roy said, as he began to realize things were possibly going to be alright.

* * *

_3 years later_

Roy sat perfectly still as Dinah trimmed his hair for him. He was nineteen now, finally finished with the high school mess Slade had insisted on. He had definite ideas on what he wanted now that he had met that requirement. He hadn't even minded being older than everyone in class; Dinah made sure to keep him on his toes, as she studied from his books and learned enough to pass her G.E.D. Slade was good to them, but he had firm opinions on them being educated.

"You think he'll go for it?"

"I don't see why not. We know he was once in the military."

"That's different."

"Boy-o mine, he's never protested you meeting up with those other do-good kids."

"The Titans, Di…"

"I know."

"But…Di…we know he's not exactly legal in what he does."

"Yes."

"What if I ever get assigned to…"

"To hunt him down for a crime?" Dinah walked in front of him, meeting his eyes. "You do what he expects, like we both always do. You do your best, and if you're good enough, he goes away. If not, he gets off, and you keep doing your job. It's professional versus private, same two sides that we've been living, Boy-o." She brushed his face off then, and smiled. "All done."

"Thanks, I was getting shaggy." He stood up, and she had to look up at him, her eyes bright with pride.

"My boy-o," she purred, stepping into his hold as he thought over everything.

"With the skill I had, what he's taught me…I could make a real impact working for the Bureau."

"You certainly could," came the voice of the 'he' in question. Slade walked in, lazily looking at his 'family'. They didn't move apart immediately, waiting until Slade sat before Dinah went and crawled into his lap. Roy grabbed the broom to clean up the clipped hair.

"So you don't object?"

"Man's got to pick his own path. Besides, both of us on the wrong side of things might one day bite our little bird in the rear, considering life expectancies…" Slade had to pet her hair at that, knowing she refused to think of a world where one or both of her men might not be there for her.

"Slade…thanks." Roy smiled at the man that had treated him and Dinah so well over the last three years, giving them the tools to make themselves better. That Dinah had taken to running a flower shop so well might have been surprising, if Roy hadn't caught on quick that she was still using her street smarts to funnel info to the street walkers and fences in the area.

"You're welcome." The mercenary closed his eye wearily, relaxing into the quiet that was his home in this city. Maybe, with Roy getting ready to leave the nest…no, Dinah was content here with her business. Wintergreen's curiosity would just have to wait until the man was free to come here, as it had for the last three years.

He didn't even protest when the young man of his family helped their little bird coax him to bed, and out of his gear. After all, they were his…and neither one had ever had reason to regret it.


End file.
